Joe Downtown: Dome arrives for installation atop Container Park

(Las Vegas Sun, 11 January 2013) – Three pallets full of vortex dome “stuff” have arrived in Las Vegas, now just waiting for a concrete pad to be poured at the site of the downtown Container Park to be built at Seventh and Fremont streets.

Ed Lantz, CEO of Vortex Immersion Media, said the dome could be up in March.

Once installed, the dome will become one of the Container Park’s focal points beyond the retail stores and bars housed within the park. “Cubes” to house the Container Park’s various tenants are being manufactured at Xtreme Manufacturing in Las Vegas.

The development is expected to be finished by summer’s end or early fall.

At a basic level, Lantz said the dome would be able to “immerse” visitors into multidimensional landscapes, such as a visual ride that gradually guides people from outer space to Las Vegas.

A few years in the future, he imagines the ability to use software to project virtual textures onto gray-painted furniture within the dome, allowing visitors to feel as if they are in a variety of settings. Dozens of fish-eye projectors and cameras throughout the dome would allow the projection of surfaces and recording of space and objects.

For example, he said, you could be sitting at a table which looks like it has a wood-grain surface. Then you would “reach up into the cloud,” where you would “grab” onto your personal information and “throw” it onto the table for others to see. If you might be interested in someone you spot at a table across the room, perhaps you would send the information to him or her with the flick of your hand.

That software hasn’t been developed yet, but Lantz said he saw something that verges on it this week at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Right now, he added, the specifics behind use of the dome aren’t yet known. Still, he said, when it is up and in full view, “it is quite a thing to see.”